How to Insert Data Into a Table in SQL Server

Once you have created your table, the next step is to insert data into it. The basic syntax to insert a single row is:

INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES (1, 21);

This inserts one record into the BRIAN table, setting column a to 1 and column b to 21.

Inserting Multiple Rows Efficiently

Instead of writing many separate INSERT statements like this:

INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES (1, 21);
INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES (39, 21);
INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES (1998, 2001);
-- and so on

You can insert multiple rows with one statement like this:

INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES
  (1, 21),
  (39, 21),
  (1998, 2001),
  (26, 2817),
  (21, 2938),
  (12, 21),
  (3939, 4848);

This is cleaner, more efficient, and easier to maintain.

Inserting Multiple Rows Using a Loop (T-SQL)

Sometimes you might want to insert many rows dynamically, for example, inside a stored procedure or a script, or generate test data. You can do this with a loop using T-SQL's WHILE:

DECLARE @i INT = 1;

WHILE @i <= 10
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO dbo.BRIAN (a, b) VALUES (@i, @i * 10);
    SET @i = @i + 1;
END

This will insert 10 rows where column a contains values 1 through 10, and column b contains values 10 through 100 (multiples of 10).

Summary

• Use INSERT INTO ... VALUES ... to add data.
• Insert multiple rows with a single INSERT by separating each row with commas.
• Use T-SQL loops (WHILE) for dynamic or repetitive inserts.

If you want, I can help you with sample scripts for bulk inserts, or inserting data from another table using INSERT INTO ... SELECT. Just ask!